TAMPA, Fla. — The top-ranked team in men’s college basketball does not get an easy warmup. Florida, No. 1 in the preseason Top 25, tips off Monday at 6 p.m. against in-state rival Miami, ranked 14th, in a neutral-site Tampa showcase billed as the Orion180 Tip-Off Classic.
The Gators are starting a season at No. 1 for the first time since 2006, when they were coming off the first of two straight national titles. Coach Todd Golden has much of last year’s top-seeded NCAA tournament team back, including forward Thomas Haugh, who passed on the NBA Draft, Alex Condon and center Reuben Chinyelu, the reigning national defensive player of the year. Guard Denzel Aberdeen, part of the 2025 championship team, returned from Kentucky after winning a court order allowing him a fifth season.
Miami brings its own momentum. In Jai Lucas’s first season, the Hurricanes went 26-9, matching the NCAA mark for the biggest one-year turnaround. A 13-5 conference record made them the third seed in the ACC bracket, and as a seventh seed in March they won a game in the NCAA field before bowing out.
Miami is one of five ACC teams in the preseason poll, a group led by No. 2 Duke. Behind the Gators and Blue Devils sit Illinois at third, UConn at fourth and Arizona at fifth.
History suggests a long road for the Gators. The last preseason No. 1 to finish as national champion was North Carolina in the 2008-09 season.
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